Kawaguchi ranked No. 1 as “A comfortable city in the Tokyo metropolitan area”: Residents - “Really?”

Recently Asahi Shimbun Digital reported the following:

川口が「首都圏住みやすい街」１位 住民「本当に？」

 朝日新聞社 2019/12/24 07:02

　首都圏で住みやすい街のグランプリは川口！　そんな大手住宅ローン会社のランキング結果が話題を呼んでいる。「本当に？」という住民の声がある中で、ランキングの元となるデータが単なる人気投票とは違う、という特徴が反映されたようだ。

　ランキングは住宅ローン会社「ＡＲＵＨＩ（アルヒ）」が選定した東京、神奈川、千葉、埼玉の１都３県を対象にした「本当に住みやすい街大賞２０２０」。地域は駅単位で、住まい選びの参考になるランキングとしている。グランプリの「川口」も川口駅周辺を指している。街や地域のランキングは多々あるが、市によると川口が選ばれたのは初めてではないかという。

　しかし、昨年も４位とはいえ、人気上昇中の赤羽（２位）、柏の葉キャンパス（４位）、高級住宅街で新たな開発も進むたまプラーザ（３位）を抑えての１位に、市民からは「ちゃんとした調査なのかなあ」「東京の隣なのに家が安いからか」と不思議がる声があるのも確か。

　それに対して同社の担当者が「実際に住宅を買った人の数をベースにしている。住みたいけど住めないという人気投票のようなランキングとは違った結果になっている」と説明するように、選定方法に特徴があるようだ。

　同賞は同社の膨大なデータを活用して、住宅や不動産の専門家らの選定委員会が「生活する」という視点を重視している。（1）住環境（2）交通利便性（3）教育環境（4）コストパフォーマンス（5）発展性に分けて選んだ川口の総合評価（５点満点）は４・１４。「発展性」は満点だった。駅近くにある進行中の銀座通り商店街の再開発、２０２３年に完成予定の商業施設を含む２９階のタワーマンションなどが高く評価され、グランプリ受賞につながったようだ。（堤恭太）

Translation

In the Tokyo metropolitan area, among the Grand Prix’s city Kawaguchi was easy to live in! The ranking results of such a major mortgage company were attracting attention. With the voice of the residents saying "really?", it seemed to reflect a feature that the ranking data used was different from a popular vote.

The ranking was to find “A truly livable city grand prize 2020” among Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama as selected by the mortgage loan company “ARUHI”. The area ranking was made based on station-by-station that could be used as a reference for selecting a house. The Grand Prix "Kawaguchi" also pointed to the area around Kawaguchi Station. While based on towns and regions there were many rankings, but based on cities, Kawaguchi was for the first time to be chosen.

Although in the fourth-place last year, it took over the 1st place by surpassing Akabane (2nd place), Kashiwa-no-ha Campus (4th place), and Tama-Plaza (3rd place) which had new development in progress in its high-end residential areas. Certainly, some citizens were wondering, "is this a proper survey?", “is it because the house is cheap even though it is next to Tokyo?”

The company's representative said, "it's based on the number of people who actually bought a home. It's different from a popular vote which included those wanting to live a neighborhood but unable to do so." In addition, the selection method seemed to be unique.

This award utilized the company's vast amount of data, it emphasized the perspective of “living” through a selection committee of housing and real estate experts. (1) Living environment (2) Transportation convenience (3) Educational environment (4) Cost performance (5) Divided into development potential, the comprehensive evaluation of Kawaguchi that was selected was 4.14 (out of 5 points). It had a perfect score in "Development potential". The ongoing redevelopment of the Ginza-dori shopping street near the station, together with the 29th-floor tower condominium including a commercial facility scheduled to be completed in 2023 were highly evaluated and seemed to have led to winning the Grand Prix.

       So, Kawaguchi as a neighborhood has the highest potential for investment.